The topic of the congress was “Imaging Informatics in Oncology” and it was the result of joining both Societies fields like Oncology and Medical Imaging Informatics from ESOI and EUSOMII, respectively. The congress program combined workshops with plenary sessions. The workshops covered different concrete areas like Response to treatment, Tumor Boards, 3D printing, and Imaging Informatics for clinicians and computer scientists. The complete program can be found here.

Visit of the group of Dr. Regina Beets-Tan and Dr. Erik Ranschaert to QUIBIM headquarters

Industry also visited us, in this case it was Agfa Healthcare. The Global Senior Solution Manager, Mr. Chris Townend and the National Sales Manager, José Vicente Puig visited our headquarters and attended the demo of our solution.

Quibim is proud to introduce its new advanced methodolgy to assess bone quality and fracture risk: QTS (Quality of Trabecular Structure). The need for a reliable approach for the characterization of trabecular microarchitecture is evident, as conditions and diseases related to trabecular bone quality and structure are becoming a focal point of precision medicine. Millions of dollars are spent in bone fracture care and prevention, which in many cases represent a grave danger to the patient health. In this scenario, can we rely upon available methods to predict bone fractures? Regrettably, the answer is no. Or so it was. Before we introduce QTS in detail, let’s first review some of the available methods to evaluate fracture risk.

In an attempt to fill this void in the search of a reliable predictor, new imaging biomarkers that guarantee to provide the needed sensibility and specificity have been developed. Trabecular Bone Score (TBS®) by Medimaps is a fracture risk predictor using DEXA as a source. TBS® performs a gray level analysis (textures) on the DEXA images to determine bone integrity. But, is DEXA adequate for this task? Unlike regular XR, in which it’s possible to assess the trabecular structure, DEXA’s low radiation is not enough for trabeculae differentiation. In addition, DEXA (like XR) represents a 3D structure as a projection onto a plane, losing spatial information.

Other medical imaging modalities are much more adequate for bone analysis and the subsequent fracture risk evaluation. Thanks to advanced computing models, Quibim has developed a new imaging biomarker that uses either magnetic resonance (MR), computerized tomography (CT) or X-ray imaging for a detailed characterization of the trabecular structure. QTS (Quality of Trabecular Structure) by Quibim introduces several advantages over other analysis methods:

QTS Score comprises all this information in a single score for a rapid and accurate characterization of the bone structure.

This groundbreaking analysis method is already available at our cloud web platform: Quibim Precision. Below we detail how to analyze your study in a few simple steps.

Quibim Precision allows the upload of studies in Dicom format. The upload process is easy, intuitive and 100% secure, guaranteeing the patient confidentiality thanks to Quibim’s anonymization and encryption system. The whole process is performed without the need of installing any additional software. To start, click on the green “Upload Study” button to the right of the website.

The platform will then ask for Dicom studies selection. With Google Chrome, we can drag and drop the study folder directly to the dotted box. With any other browser, we need to select the Dicom files to be uploaded.

Once the Dicom folders have been selected, Quibim Precision allows the pre-visualization of the study to choose which sequences we wish to upload. In this case, we need a CT, an X-ray or a 3D T1 MR.

After the selection, the files will be anonymized and encrypted. Quibim Precision will ask for an encryption password before the upload process starts. The user needs to preserve this password, as it’s needed for patient traceability.

After the upload process is completed, we click on the “Analyze Study” button of the study we want to evaluate.

This will take us to the detailed view of the study, where we can perform all actions related to it. First of all, we will choose among all the available sequences the one to be analyzed and its Quibim standard name. In this case, the name of the sequence is “Linear Attenuation [1/cm] (3035)”, which corresponds to the standard name “High Resolution CT”.

Next, we open the embedded Dicom viewer by clicking on “View”. Thanks to this viewer we can draw the ROI that will be used for the analysis. The viewer allows drawing 3D ROIs, first drawing a 2D rectangular ROI, and then selecting the slices on which it should be replicated. Clicking on “Apply” and “Save and go back” will store the ROI and it will be used for the analysis.

Finally, we should choose which analysis method we’ll use among all the available apps in Quibim Precision. In this case we’ll click on the “Start Analysis” button of the “3D Bone microarchitecture – QTS Score” app. The analysis process will then start, and the user doesn’t need to perform any other action than checking the results.

The results of the analysis are available on the view of the study. Once the analysis is completed we can check them by clicking on the “View Study” button on the “Processed Biomarkers” section.

We can examine the 3D reconstruction images and the numeric results of the extracted imaging biomarkers on the results view. Furthermore, we can download them and the structured report in pdf format, which includes all the generated data in a compact, easy to read way.

All the benefits of QTS are just a few clicks away. Create an account on Quibim Precision and start offering a real added value with your imaging studies.

QUIBIM has launched a new video describing the advanced Imaging Biomarkers analysis process performed at our company. From the assistance and consultancy in medical images acquisition (MR, CT, PET, US, X-Ray, …), through image processing and quantification, to the final structured report generation containing the most relevant information for the clinician, researcher or clinical trials CRO companies.